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No longer a newbie, but still clueless.

Just getting ready to pitch the yeast on this bad boy and I'm at 1.104. I expect that will rise a little after the grape skins have hydrated and given up a little sugar. Can anyone share what their SG was with this kit?

It came with skins, raisins, and two packs of oak chips. I'm holding one of the packs of oak and the raisins for secondary. I'm replacing the EC-1118 that the kit came with and using BM45.

Senior Member

Jim, if you ferment to .996, your ABV will be 14.33%.
Make sure that you have Fermaid K when using BM45, it is a great yeast to use for Amarone, mine tastes just like a commercial Amarone, but it is a nutrient hog!

Senior Member

Jim, I started this kit in October, 2011. My starting SG was 1.110. The final SG was .992. I used the EC-1118 that came with the kit. I bottled it back in March after 16 months of bulk aging. It was really good at bottling. My plan is to give it until Thanksgiving to pop one of the bottles. Looking forward to seeing how it is then.

I like your plan for switching to BM45. I did the same thing in a Meglioli Amarone that I pitched back in March of this year. I used both Lallzyme EX and Fermaid K with it. Got an excellent fermentation with that combination. My starting SG was 1.104 and it finished up at .994.

Senior Member

Jim, I made 2 separate batches of Amarone from Juice buckets, with one batch I used 71B-1122, the other, BM45. It is really cool to taste the difference in wine. The one fermented with 71b-1122, has exactly what I was going for, a more fruit forward, slightly less "bite", the batch fermented with BM45 is almost dead on with the commercial Amarone that I have purchased.

Both went through MLF, I plan on aging them for 3-4 months in oak barrels, they will have aged approx 9-10 months when I put them in the barrels, I plan on putting them back in carboys for a few more months before bottling. I cannot wait, they taste amazing right now!

On a side note, you can get BM 4x4 in small quantities from M&M, this is an improvement to the BM45, a blend of BM45 and another yeast, it is supposed to have less nutrient requirements, I've never had any issues with BM45, but I tried the BM4x4, so far, so good.